Most homes in North Birmingham were built before anyone expected two cars per household. The interwar council cottages of Kingstanding, Perry Common and Pype Hayes have front gardens that were designed for privet and roses, the Victorian streets of Aston, Stockland Green and Handsworth have forecourts barely deep enough for a wheelie bin, and the 1930s semis of Great Barr and Hamstead were given one narrow strip for one small car. Converting a front garden to parking, and fencing what is left, is the everyday work here.
B6, B20, B23, B24 and B44 sit wholly or mostly in Birmingham. B42 and B43 are split three ways: Perry Barr and Oscott are Birmingham, Hamstead and parts of Great Barr fall in Sandwell, and Pheasey belongs to Walsall. Those lines decide which council lowers your kerb and which planning team you ask.
We don't lay paving or put up fences ourselves. We send your details to a single local specialist covering these postcodes, and your contract is with them.
Conservation areas: few, but worth checking
Unlike Sutton Coldfield or Moseley, most of this patch is outside any conservation area, so ordinary permitted development rules apply to fences, walls and paving. The exceptions:
- Aston Hall and Church, Birmingham, around the Jacobean hall and its park in B6.
- Great Barr, Walsall, a large area covering the Great Barr Hall estate and reaching towards Barr Beacon, which includes some homes on the Walsall side of B43.
- Lozells and Soho Hill, just south of Handsworth, for those on the edge of the patch.
If your street is in one of these, removing a front wall or railing more than a metre high needs consent, and paving the front garden is judged on how it looks from the road. Everywhere else, the national rules are enough.
Plots, access and what they mean for a job
Kingstanding, Perry Common and Pype Hayes. Built by the council between the wars, with semis and short terraces set back behind front lawns, long back gardens and rear access down shared paths between the blocks. Front gardens are often 5 to 6 metres deep, enough for one car nose-in. Plenty have privet or low brick fronts that the owner wants replaced with a wall and gate or removed entirely.
Erdington, Stockland Green, Gravelly Hill and Aston. Victorian and Edwardian terraces with a shared entry between every pair of houses. The entry is often 80 to 90cm wide and arched, which rules out a mini digger and means fence panels, posts, concrete and spoil go through by hand. That adds time, and our estimator allows for it.
Great Barr, Hamstead and Oscott. 1930s to 1950s semis, many with a driveway shared with next door up to side-by-side garages. Resurfacing a shared drive needs both owners on board: agree who pays for what before the specialist visits.
Handsworth Wood. Larger interwar and detached houses on bigger plots, with gates and front walls to match.
Castle Vale. Rebuilt since the 1990s, with modern houses, allocated parking and open-plan fronts.
Boundary walls, fences and the local brick
The Victorian terraces were built in machine-pressed Birmingham red brick, and their front walls are usually a couple of courses on a blue engineering-brick plinth with a blue saddleback or half-round coping. Council estates from the 1930s used a plainer, sandier brick and often a precast concrete coping. Matching like for like costs a little more but stops a new section looking patched in.
Low front walls under a metre are priced at £150–£250 per metre. In the back gardens, the boundary is usually timber, and the question of whose fence it is comes up constantly on long estate plots; our who owns the fence guide helps you check the deeds before you pay for a new one. Brick walls built astride the boundary are party fence walls, and work on them falls under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, which a timber fence does not.
Fencing and gates in North Birmingham
A typical job here is 15 to 25 metres of back fence on an estate plot, often replacing panels that have been patched after several windy winters. Overlap panels cost £60–£90 per metre and featheredge £95–£135, both at 1.8m on concrete posts. As a worked example, 15 metres of featheredge with the old fence taken away comes to about £1,700–£2,400. Repairs are priced per item: £90–£140 a panel and £120–£180 for a snapped post. See new fence, fence repair and the fence cost per metre guide.
Shared entries in Erdington and Aston make a lockable side gate one of the most requested jobs. A timber gate costs £250–£450 and a metal one £400–£700; if the entry is shared, the neighbour has a right of way through it, so any lock needs a key for them too.
Corner houses in Kingstanding and Great Barr often want a tall fence down the side garden next to the road. Beside a highway or its footway the limit without planning permission is 1 metre, so a 1.8m run needs an application. Our fence height guide explains the limits. See also the North Birmingham fencing and gates page.
Local questions
I rent my house in Kingstanding from the council. Can I get a drive?
You need the council's permission as landlord before anything else, and Birmingham will also want it for the dropped kerb. If you are a leaseholder or have bought under right to buy, check your deeds for restrictions. Once you have consent, the specialist can quote for the hardstanding.
My B43 house is in Sandwell. What does the kerb cost?
Sandwell charges a £250 inspection fee that is never refunded, then quotes for the works. Its own figure for a standard crossing is £1,300–£1,800 on a normal-width pavement, more if a verge, lamp column or utility box is involved.
Our entry is shared with next door. Can we put a gate on it?
Usually yes, if both households agree and your neighbour keeps access. Most shared entries carry a right of way for both houses, so the gate must not block it, and both of you need keys. Check your deeds if you are unsure who owns the entry.
Is my front garden too small for a car?
It depends on the depth from the house to the back of the pavement. Councils generally want enough room for a car to park without overhanging the footway, which many Victorian forecourts in Aston and Erdington lack. The council's inspection decides; the specialist can measure before you apply.